The Urban Land Institute forms regional smart growth alliances

The Urban Land Institute, which helped establish regional smart growth alliances in the Philadelphia and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas (see Sept. 2005 New Urban News), is expanding its initiative to six other regions. Since starting the Washington Smart Growth Alliance and the Delaware Valley Smart Growth Alliance, ULI has helped form similar alliances in Atlanta and Orlando. Now there are plans to do the same in Colorado, southeast Florida, Seattle, and Richmond, Virginia. To support those activities, in January the US Environmental Protection Agency awarded grants of $1,500 each to ULI district councils in the first four regions and $5,000 each to district councils in the four newest regions, plus funds to help the ULI national organization carry out the program. The national ULI has allocated nearly $35,000 of its own funds to the program so far, with more expected in the future. ULI described the alliances as “an effort to break the political stalemate that often results as communities examine how best to support economic development, accommodate growth, enhance community livability, and protect the environment.” The alliances promote smart-growth principles, partly by assembling independent juries that review proposed projects and determine whether they adhere to smart growth ideals. A smart growth designation may help a project obtain the governmental approvals it needs.